The Fundación Universitaria María Cano, as the implementing institution of a Science, Technology and Innovation project funded through Colombia’s General Royalties System, has successfully completed an initiative that brought applied research, innovation and knowledge to communities in Puerto Nariño, Amazonas, and Puerto Caicedo, Putumayo. The project, “Bioeconomic Strengthening for Social and Productive Reactivation Based on the Provision of Water Ecosystem Services in the Context of Climate Change in Priority Municipalities of Amazonas and Putumayo,” directly benefited 816 people and generated solutions aimed at strengthening water management, sustainable productivity and climate change adaptation.

The initiative highlights the importance of connecting research with the real needs of local territories. Through collaborative work with communities, the project implemented irrigation and water-pumping systems, solar energy solutions, greenhouses, water harvesting and storage pilots, alternatives for water treatment and consumption in rural areas, and nature-based solutions for wastewater management. These actions transformed scientific and technological knowledge into practical tools to address social, environmental and productive challenges.

One of the project’s most significant contributions was strengthening social appropriation of knowledge, understood as a process in which communities do not simply receive solutions but actively participate in their development, understand how they work and build the capacities needed to ensure their sustainability. For this reason, research activities were accompanied by training, knowledge-transfer and support processes, bringing together academic knowledge with local and ancestral expertise to develop solutions suited to the realities of each territory.

The project also leaves an important knowledge legacy for decision-making and future initiatives. The generation of information on water, territory, climate change, governance and bioeconomy, together with publications, technical documents, scientific articles and knowledge-transfer materials, expands the available evidence and provides valuable references for future projects. In this way, research goes beyond the academic sphere and becomes a tool for promoting social, environmental and productive transformation in the regions.

For the Fundación Universitaria María Cano, the implementation of this project reaffirms the role of higher education institutions in transforming territories and demonstrates the value of collaboration among academia, communities, public institutions and strategic partners through the General Royalties System. The work carried out together with Universidad del Cauca, the Government of Putumayo, the Municipality of Puerto Nariño and the Environmental and Landscape Innovation Agency – ELIA shows that research, innovation and community engagement can become tangible capacities, solutions and opportunities for local communities. The project leaves a fundamental message: when knowledge engages in dialogue with local expertise and is built collaboratively, it is possible to develop sustainable responses to challenges such as water security, environmental conservation and climate change.

This international seminar was held with the support of ICETEX

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